Hello everyone! I’m excited to be starting a new term at UBC, and to be taking another class with a focus on Canadian history and Native cultures.
Who am I?
I’m a 4th year English major here at UBC. I was born and raised in the US and am still living in Washington, commuting to UBC three days a week. Thank goodness for dual citizenship and cheap Canadian tuition!
Why did I choose this class?
Having been born and raised in the US, and considering myself American first and foremost, my experience with these subjects is probably much different than that of students born and raised in Canada. This is exciting for me, as it means I get the opportunity to interact with a field of knowledge that’s completely new and fresh.
Also, it’s online. This means less walking around UBC campus in the rain. I consider this a plus.
What do I expect to gain from this course?
Primarily, I hope to gain a greater understanding of the history of the Canadian and Indigenous peoples and of their interactions. I’ve always been fascinated by the native peoples of North America, especially the Apache peoples of the American Southwest, the Sioux of the Great Plains, and the Haida peoples of the Pacific Northwest. I have a great love of military science and history, and have been interested in these peoples and their cultures ever since an old anthropology professor of mine (a member of the Salish people himself) called the Haida “the Vikings of the Pacific coast.” I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning about native peoples and cultures through this lens, looking at the similarities and differences in warfare between the native peoples of North America and similar bronze-age/early iron-age peoples in Europe and Asia, and especially at the naval traditions of ocean-going peoples like the Haida and Salish. The fact that these peoples could travel from the Alaskan coast as far south as California in canoes carrying twenty to thirty people is remarkable and is a testament to their highly developed naval tradition.
However, I’m under no illusions that my personal interests haven’t left significant gaps in my knowledge of the indigenous peoples, especially in a Canadian context. I know next to nothing about Canadian history, and while I’ve heard things like the “residential school system” mentioned on more than a few occasions during my time at UBC my knowledge on these subjects rarely extends beyond a simple news article. I don’t even know when to capitalize words like “native” and “indigenous” and when not to, as I’m sure this and future blog posts will attest to (at least until one of my fellow students corrects me). Thus, I’m sure that almost everything we’ll be studying over the course of this term will be new to me, which I find exciting.
Thank you for reading, I’m looking forward to learning with you all!
Also, I know how much Canadians love the British royals, so I’ve attached an image of your beloved Prince and Princess in a traditional Haida canoe.
Works Cited
CBC News. “A History of Residential Schools in Canada.” CBC, 16 May 2008, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280. Accessed 12 January 2020.
English, Rebecca. “Prince William and Kate Middleton Arrive on a Remote Island in a Traditional War Canoe.” Daily Mail, 30 Sept. 2016, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3816426/Wills-Kate-arrive-remote-island-traditional-WAR-CANOE-British-Columbia-charm-locals-penultimate-day-tour-Canada.html. Accessed 12 January 2020.
“Warfare.” Canadian Museum of History, https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/haida/havwa01e.html. Accessed 12 January 2020.
Hi Cooper
I really enjoyed reading about your interest in military science and history. It is a topic that I am unfamiliar with but I found the link about Haida warfare really interesting. I also really enjoyed your blog because of your honesty about your gaps in knowledge. Despite being Canadian and knowing the history of this land, I often find myself realizing that I still have a lot to learn and I absolutely have gaps in my knowledge too. I hope that we can all help to educate each other on Canadian history, terminology, and ultimately, literature.
I find the Indigenous Foundations website to be an exceptionally valuable resource when navigating Indigenous studies (https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/terminology/). I hope you find it helpful too. I have linked the terminology page but this site also has pages on Indigenous history, Canadian government policies, and more.
I am curious about whether you think the US and Canada differ greatly in terms of their education on Indigenous peoples and their histories of racist policies.
In her first blog post, Katrina Smith mentioned that British Columbia’s new curriculum has just started to include Indigenous perspectives of learning. While I was in high school, topics of colonialism, residential schools, and racist government policies were only touched upon briefly in our history class. I understand that you can’t speak for the entire US educational system (nor can I speak for all of Canada) but I am wondering you have any insight on this topic.
Thank you,
Eva Dvorak
Works Cited:
“Terminology.” Indigenous Foundations, UBC, https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/terminology/.
Hi Eva,
Thanks for your comment and for the link you provided. It even had a specific section on the rules surrounding the capitalization of different terms!
To get to your question, no I can’t speak for the entirety of the educational system in the US. However I do feel I can speak for a chunk of it, one of the consequences of being raised in a military family is moving and we did a lot of it, the result being that I attended school in six different states. In my experience, the schools in Virginia, Texas, and Washington all provided really excellent education on indigenous cultures and the history surrounding their interactions with white settlers and the federal government. “History of the Pacific Northwest” is a required class in Washington schools and much of the time in the class is dedicated to learning about the different tribes native to the area and the interactions they had with white settlers. Texas, being Texas, focused heavily on the history of the military interactions between white settlers and native peoples, particularly the Apache, which I found fascinating. And Virginia, being home to Jamestown, was mostly focused on the early history of colonization in the area. Though they focused on different areas, all three did provide a broad history of the conflict between the natives peoples and white settlers/the US government in a way that I would consider to be balanced and nuanced.
Florida, Rhode Island, and California all provided less-than-fantastic education on the subject. Honestly I don’t remember ever hearing about it in any Florida school I attended (but it’s Florida so were you expecting quality education?). Rhode Island included the subject but taught only one side of it, that being the conflicts that arose due to actions taken by the natives, with little-to-no mention of conflicts instigated by white settlers or the later policies implemented by the US government. Which was surprising both because that view of things is probably a good 50 years out of fashion at this point, and because it’s Rhode Island, and one would sooner expect Texas to take that line of thinking rather than a state in New England. Probably unsurprisingly, California was the exact opposite, with almost the entire time spent on the subject focused on destructive federal policies and no time spent discussing conflicts between settlers and tribes and the actions taken by either side, or even on different tribes/peoples/cultures etc.
I can’t speak to how the approaches these states took resemble the Canadian approach as I never attended primary or secondary school here, nor to what degree these states approaches are representative of the US as a whole. It’s a big country and the relations between settled peoples and native peoples varied widely depending on location, so I imagine all the states differ in their approaches and there isn’t a norm. I’d be curious to hear your opinion on which state most closely resembles Canada in it’s education on the subject. Something tells me it’s not Rhode Island.
Thanks again for the comment,
Cooper
Hi Eva and Cooper,
Jumping in here on the topic of K-12 education, which as you saw from my blog post, I have a particular interest in.
Eva – I imagine you attended high school around a similar time to me. From my memory, there was some, but a minimal mention of Indigenous histories. What we were taught was focused on events and not on literature, Indigenous ways of knowing, etc. The newly re-designed curriculum is heavily focused on incorporating Indigenous perspectives in all subject areas, not just social studies or history.
Cooper – That’s really interesting that Washington schools have that required course, thanks for sharing. It sounds like you must have learned a lot more about this subject (at least from a historical lens) than your classmates from BC. A difference I see between the course you took in Washington and the new curriculum in BC is the focus on incorporating Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing into the curriculum. Personally, I think to study the history and to study ways of knowing about particular topics (say, science or math, for example) to be slightly different, and could lead to a different understanding. See this poster for the foundation that incorporating First Peoples ways of Knowing is based on: https://www.setbc.org/2018/07/classroom-technologies-and-first-peoples-principles-of-learning/
Thanks for the interesting insight into the US school system!
Katarina
Works Cited
“First Peoples Principles of Learning.” First Nations Education Steering Committee, https://www.setbc.org/2018/07/classroom-technologies-and-first-peoples-principles-of-learning/
Hi Cooper,
Sorry to flood your page with another comment but I found it too interesting to resist!
Your educational background and resultant gaps in your knowledge are very relatable to me despite being born and raised in Kingston ON, Canada before moving to BC. My dad was in the military and Kingston was first and foremost a military town, home to the Royal Military College of Canada. Ontario’s history curriculum (at that time) focused very heavily on military history. Every kid at my school had been to Fort Henry (https://www.forthenry.com/history-heritage/) at least once, and locations like it. There are so many historical military sights in Kingston so local military history was seen as more relevant and was taught without much Indigenous context. When I moved to BC at the age of ten (Grade 5), I went through an extreme culture shock due to my lack of previous education on Indigenous people.
BC curriculum focuses heavily on Indigenous culture and context. Kids the same age as me had already studied pre-colonization, colonization and modern issues and contexts. Field trips included a trip to the Big House (this short video shows an experience very similar to the one that I had on a field trip http://www3.sd71.bc.ca/School/abed/resources/teacher/Pages/BigHouse.aspx#/=), the Royal BC Museum Indigenous Exhibition and many sites significant to Indigenous culture.
Even in Canada the educational system varies greatly because different regions choose to discuss the history that is most meaningful to them and in a flattering context. That is why I am very excited to take this course. Learning to identify colonial narratives and to seek out other stories is very important when the source of a story typically favours one narrative.
Do you think that taking this course and learning to identify colonial narratives will have an effect on your understanding of the history that you have learned so far? I find that my understanding of the history I was taught in Ontario has changed greatly. However, I wonder if this is because my education in BC included Indigenous groups from all over Canada including Ontario. Whereas, conversely, my knowledge of the Indigenous people in the USA is severely lacking. There is always more to learn no matter where you are from!
Works Cited:
“Big House.” Indigenous Education, http://www3.sd71.bc.ca/School/abed/resources/teacher/Pages/BigHouse.aspx#/=. Accessed 13 Jan. 2020
“History and Heritage” Fort Henry, https://www.forthenry.com/history-heritage/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2020
Hi Emily,
Glad to have another military kid here!
To your question, I’m not sure how to answer as I’m not sure what “learning to identify colonial narratives” means. My sense is that history is history, and as long as you make an effort to learn about both sides of events and refrain from making value judgements one way or the other your view of that history should be as unbiased and objective as it could be. Perhaps I’m being naïve but that’s my inclination.
I can understand why different regions in Canada would discuss what’s most meaningful to them. It’s the same as in the states. Why would Texas discuss Salish fishing practices, or Virginia the Great Plains Nations? I think educational systems are forced to make choices about what to include in their curriculum due to their being limited time and we can’t fault them for choosing to teach what they feel is most relevant to their history. However, that’s not to say that states or provinces should do what California and Rhode Island did in the examples I gave. Focusing on history that is relevant to your particular place is one thing, teaching only one side of the history, or one narrative, is another.
Thanks for your comment!
Cooper
Hi Cooper,
“Learning to identify colonial narratives”, in a nut shell, means recognizing when history is only being told from one point of view i.e. the colonial perspective. For example, Christopher Columbus was previously called the discoverer of North America. From a colonial perspective this description was seen as suitable. In actuality, and from a non colonial perspective, this is not true because Indigenous people lived in North America long before Christopher Columbus arrived (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus). Like you said, the important thing is to “make an effort to learn about both sides of events”. I agree that history shouldn’t be biased however, when it is written down or passed on (like a story) it has an inherent bias. I think identifying when history is missing different perspectives is the first step to understanding what actually occurred.
Emily
Forgot to cite my source!
“Christopher Columbus” Encycolpedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus Accessed 14 Jan 2020
Hi Copper,
Thank you for a great introduction. First, to be on the safe side, just always capitalize Indigenous and Native when speaking about people, and Indian, and of course First Nations, and thank you very much for asking. An excellent question, and another excellent question is to ponder on why that would be so — why is it that fourth year English students are uncertain as to when to capitalize when it comes to referring to Indigenous peoples. What does this tell us about ‘the stories we tell ourselves’ and the stories we listen to? You are not alone. We will discuss this further.
Excellent links; good places to learn from – and to question.
I am excited by your enthusiasm and interests in this course and very much look forward to learning together. Thank you, Erika